Sir,—In her interesting article on the George Gavan Duffy papers (HIWinter 2000), Mary Kotsonouris wonders why, as late as 1951, GavanDuffy reiterated his view that the 1922 constitution could haverecovered the independence lost in the Treaty. The reason is that Gavan Duffy believed that a more ‘republican’constitution could have reconciled many anti-treatyites, thus greatlyreducing the … Read more
A chara,—In order to commemorate and celebrate the pioneering work ofthe Dáil courts (1920-24), I propose to collect and publish thelikenesses of the judges and justices, registrars, clerks and otherofficials of the supreme, circuit and various district and parishcourts. I would be grateful if anyone in possession of such likenessescould forward them to me along … Read more
Sir,—In ‘The Postal Strike of 1922’ (HI Winter 2000) Alexis Guilbrideregrets that this event ‘has virtually gone unrecorded in the historybooks. Of all the governments we have had since independence, few woulddispute that the first Provisional Government of Saorstat Éireann hadthe most difficult task of all, establishing a staple environment fromthe ruins of the Civil … Read more
Sir,—James S. Donnelly Jr, in his article ‘A Church in Crisis’ (HI Autumn 2000), writes: ‘Hypocrisy, a deadly cardinal sin in the court of public opinion, was a relatively minor note in the Bishop Eamonn Casey affair, but it was the dominant feature of the scandal of 1994-5 surrounding the name of Fr Michael Cleary’. … Read more
I read this book full on the heels of journalist Susan McKay’s Northern Protestants: an Unsettled People, and just as avidly. Both books emanate from troubled hearts asking the question—what was this thirty-years war in Northern Ireland all about? Susan McKay’s book belongs to the present and is the testimony of Protestants from various parts … Read more